Beyond the Multiverse

Chapter Sixteen: Cyril's Clocktower

"Well, help yourself to whatever you want," Cyril shrugged, as she left Jane and Hattie alone in the living room of her enormous penthouse "Just as long as you know the ingredients."

The room was quite more dramatic than Jane had been expecting, the stone ceiling looming overhead and the large, stained glass window casting multicolour patterns across the carpeted floor. When one hears the name "Cyril Tower", one imagines a skyscraper or some other form of looming metal structure, not an enormous gothic clocktower of preposterous proportions.

Jane made her way across the carpet towards a large, iron fridge which sat beside a wooden bench in the small kitchenette space of the room. The room's layout seemed to be rather clustered, with a kitchenette, a couch with a television, a small dining table and even a bedroom and a bathroom off from this central area.

The penthouse, as Cyril explained, was positioned just above the Cyril Logic generator, which sat behind the clock face. This was quite a moderately-sized one, as it turned out, compared to the significantly larger ones that occupied larger settlements.

Cyril Logic was still a concept Hattie was trying to grasp, and which Jane had completely given up on trying to understand, and instead decided to see if there was any Grape Cola in the fridge.

Cyril Logic follows the laws of alchemy, Hattie read out of the book that Cyril had handed him, in that matter cannot be created or destroyed, but instead changed into matter of equal value. Instead of requiring reactions, alchemic procedures or even magic, Cyril Logic is instantaneous, and allows for these transformations to occur anywhere in the world.

To power this, the book continued, Cyril Logic generators need to be constructed as to allow the particle exchange to occur. These generators, rather than operating in accordance with a tight radius, operate in accordance with the amount of exchanges that they need to power. These generators can, of course, be set to only cover certain territory, such as only on the Cyril half of the globe. The Frolic half has many laws in place forbidding the construction or utilisation of these generators.

When first unveiled, the book recounted, as Hattie begun to understand the world around him just a little bit more, There were concerns that Cyril Logic would corrode the free market, as people could just create whatever they wanted whenever they wanted it. This proved to be untrue. If somebody wants a radio, they would have to actively visualise every single component and piece of the radio to get it working. The creation and sale of new technology, art, food and devices continue as people simply do not have the time, nor patience, to learn the inner workings of everything that they own. Thus, the free market and industry remain operational, but necessities such as soap, bread and water remain accessible and free to every single person.

Hattie closed the book and analysed the cover with a strange curiosity. It bore the playful, calligraphy logo of Cyril Industries, as well as the slogan of the company beneath it - 'Yesterday's Tomorrow Today.'

Scratching her head, Jane removed the jug of water from the fridge, and tried her best to convert it into Grape Cola. Not knowing a single ingredient of the substance, she instead succeeded in creating purple-coloured sludge.

"I know there's sugar," Jane said to herself, staring at the sludge with determination, "Grapes?"

The sludge thickened into a jelly, and in absolute blind range, Jane tossed the jug across the room, sending it shattering into a thousand pieces, and grape jelly flying throughout the enormous space. With a single look, Hattie turned the glass shards into steam, along with all of the jelly, clearing the room of the mess Jane had created.

"I always felt there was something missing from life," Hattie reflected, "Perhaps it was god-like powers."

He turned a vase into a bowl to test this theory.